The Dallas Cowboys released their inactives Sunday ahead of their home opener against the New York Giants, and former first-round pick defensive tackle Mazi Smith was on the list for the second consecutive week, per Jon Machota of The Athletic.
Smith, who many fans thought could be a factor in the Cowboys’ defensive scheme this season, especially under the direction of the new regime, hasn’t seen the field yet.
And what makes it worse is that Dallas has been sending out confusing messages about what the former first-round pick needs to do. After their Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, head coach Brian Schottenheimer told reporters he had a great convo with Smith and highlighted that he needs to be consistent.
Days later, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in his weekly radio appearance that Dallas “will go with the same look at DT” in Week 2, which obviously leaves Smith as the odd man out. At this point, the Cowboys are wasting time by not trading the young defensive lineman and trying to get some value in return.
Mazi Smith Inactive in Week 2 as Cowboys Waste Time on Obvious Move
It’s tough to gauge what type of value Smith has around the league when he hasn’t played in a single snap this season under new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. The Cowboys are only hurting themselves if they ultimately want to trade the former Michigan defender.
Therefore, teams can only go off what Smith has done over his first two seasons in the league, which has been less than stellar. The former first-round pick was predominantly a backup. Smith started in three games but appeared in all 17.
However, in his second season, under the then-defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, Smith was a full-time starter. But the young defensive lineman didn’t make a huge impact. If anything, he was a net negative, especially when it involved stopping the run.
According to Pro Football Focus, Smith had a 35.9 run defense grade, which ranked 201st out of 219 eligible defensive linemen. Fast forward to this season, and with the addition of Kenny Clark in the middle, plus Solomon Thomas, Smith’s prospects in Dallas are not looking good.
One would think Smith could have gotten on the field this week, especially with how rookie Jay Toia played as he had a 29.7 run defensive grade in Week 1 (20 total defensive snaps, 11 in run defense). And not to mention, the Eagles’ running game averaged 5.5 YPC when Toia was on the field, per Jeff Cavanaugh of DLLS.
But as we see, that hasn’t moved the Cowboys from giving Smith a chance. Dallas fans want to know one way or another what the team will do with Smith. If you trade him, the best you might do is a fourth-round pick. At worst, if you cut Smith, it would free up $1.9 million in cap space, but Dallas would be on the hook for $1.6 million in dead cap penalties in 2025 and 2026.
Therefore, the ball is in Dallas’s court; either you stop wasting time and get Smith on the move, or just make the tough decision to let him go.